Rocky Balboa Preview AU

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Pity the fool who don't love Clubber Lang.

By Cam Shea

Boxing fans have had plenty to cheer about over the last few years. EA's Fight Night series has brought the boxing genre back to videogames in a big way. Tight mechanics and satisfying gameplay were paired with visuals and sound that replicated the intensity of two men belting the spuds out of one another with such visceral impact that you couldn't help but cringe. That said, the series hasn't lived up to expectations on PlayStation Portable, leaving room for another boxing game to come along and attempt to steal its portable thunder.

Enter Rocky Balboa. The new contender may not be part of an established game series, but it has the most iconic boxing film franchise of all time to back it up, and boy is it going to give it a red hot go. Fans of the film series are going to be in heaven here - you can take Rocky through all his most memorable bouts, complete with the original score and scenes from the films before each bout. The licensed material really gives the game a great atmosphere.

This could only ever happen in a videogame. No way Mr T gets punched in real life.

The heart of Rocky Balboa lies in the Historical Fights mode. As mentioned above, this is where you take the Italian Stallion through the biggest bouts of his career. From the moment the bell is rung, the rest of the world fades away, leaving you squaring off against a fearsome opponent on the mat. The gameplay is both accessible and deep, allowing you to start throwing punches immediately, but gradually revealing more and more moves and manoeuvres as you experiment (or perhaps read the manual).

The four PSP face buttons throw left and right hooks and straights, but there are plenty of modifiers. By holding in different directions when you hit one of the buttons you can throw anything from a jab, cross and body blow through to quick hooks and big hooks, on both sides. The biggest punches utilise two buttons at once, so if you want to pound your opponent with a Killer Hook, an Uppercut, Strong Uppercut or Leaned Uppercut you'll need to learn the relevant button combinations. Of course, the more powerful the move, the longer it takes to wind up and execute, leaving you open before you throw it, and vulnerable afterwards if it doesn't connect. Like real life boxing, it's a matter of looking for the right opening.

Apollo sends him to the moon.

As you can see from the screens, Rocky has an overall energy bar, which gradually goes down with each hit taken, sending you to the mat when depleted. Thankfully it recharges between rounds and after knockdowns. The other bar on screen is just as important - it measures your breath and stamina. Throw a long string of punches and you'll lose breath and gradually reduce your stamina. This becomes especially relevant during epic contests over a large number of rounds, as the boxer with the least stamina is going to be more sluggish moving around the rings and throwing punches.

Thus, you can't always be on the offensive; it's far better to balance attack and defence, and fight smart. In a neutral stance your boxer automatically blocks mid range blows, and it's simply a matter of holding up or down to block high attacks and body blows respectively. You can generally see what level of punch your opponent may be about to throw so blocking is an effective way to regain your breath during a bout. You can also use the right shoulder button in conjunction with a directional input to duck and weave away from an opponent's reach. This then ties into a counter attack system where you can go from a duck or weave straight into an attack. There's nothing quite like weaving left to leave your opponent swinging at the air then dealing a devastating killer hook in reply. You can also clear some space by pushing your opponent away using the D-pad.

He should have used the crane stance. Oh wait, that's Karate Kid.

Another inclusion in the game is the mood system. If you've been on the offensive, landing a string of attacks in a short space of time, Rocky will go into a hyper attack mode, maxing out his strength and attacking power and letting you truly wail on an opponent. The mood system also lets you turn the prey into the hunter - if you're taking lots of hits you'll get windows of opportunity to turn the tables and go on the offensive.

Between rounds the game cuts to a splitscreen shot of each of the boxers in their respective corners so you can compare damage. You can also bring up stats so you can see how many punches you've thrown versus hit across jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts. Nothing like statistics to get the heart racing.